NEWS
Editor’s colleagues jailed Former colleagues of the editor of this magazine are facing long prison sentences and/or fines after expressing dissent in Gambia. Six journalists were convicted of sedition and criminal defamation after speaking out about the Gambian regime’s failure to properly investigate the murder of a colleague, Deyda Hydara. The West African state is ranked 137th out of 173 countries on the organisation’s worldwide press freedom index. Allen Meagher worked in Gambia as a volunteer in the mid-to-late 1990s. He wrote about the latest crackdown on journalists there in the ‘Irish Times’ on July 6th as the court considered the verdicts: www.irishtimes.com
Bomb scare at Dolphin’s Barn project An army bomb disposal team was called to an April 27th community meeting run by Dolphin House Development Association, the CDP in Dublin. A hoax bomb was found at the entrance and the meeting was postponed and the wider housing complex was evacuated while the army dealt with the suspect device. Over 100 people had shown up at the meeting to discuss criminality and drugdealing in the area. The bomb-scare came days after up to 30 cars had their tyres slashed in the area, as dealers vented their anger at an increased Garda presence in the flats. Local Labour councilor, Eric Byrne, is a director of the CDP and he said the problems were compounded by a sense of frustration that a long-promised regeneration scheme would not take place some years. He said the area has a good community infrastructure, including creches, after-school projects and an active community association. Residents have called for full-time Garda patrols in the area.
216 ideas on Volunteering
There were 216 ideas submitted by the public in the ‘Social and Voluntary’ category of the www.ideascampaign.ie website. While many are original and could transform local communities, it is remarkable how many of the ideas have already been implemented – with success – by CDPs, FRCs, Partnerships and Volunteer Centres Ireland, among others. For example, a ‘Changing Ireland’ survey found that at least 34 of the ideas have been implemented by some or all CDPs. However, few of the ideas have been implemented nationally and someone in Waterford may not be aware of the success in neighbouring Tipperary of, for instance, community-run organic gardens and cookery courses. If the most creative ideas are adopted nationally, it could transform society. We’ve put the list relating to Community and Volunteering into one file which you can download from: www.changingireland.blogspot.com
FG’s ‘democratic’ plan for communities Fine Gael has launched a policy document that would subsume community organisations into local authorities and see the abolishment of many community-related groups that the party calls ‘quangos’. This policy “boosts local democracy (and) will give local communities and people more of a say as to how vital services are delivered in their areas,” said Fine Gael’s Phil Hogan. Project Breadit aims to As the document’s title suggests, provides healthy school give ‘Power to the People’ by strengthening meals to children in local authorities. Boston whose families The agencies that would be dissolved struggle totoput food or have functions transferred Local on the table. Boston Government include FAS Community data-sharing Employment Schemes,values Pobal, Dublin between agenciesTemple and Docklands Development Authority, communities to deal Bar Cultural Trust, Western Development Commission, Countywith and such City challenges. Development On page we focus Boards, and City and County 22, Enterprise on data-sharing in Boards. It would result in aFingal, savingIreland. of over €70m a year from combined budgets of €900m to the afore-mentioned bodies. SIPTU has criticised the proposals, as has Fianna Fail. Minister Eamon O’Cuiv said “the direct involvement of local communities in their own futures would be swallowed up in officialdom and bureaucracy.” To read the document, visit www.finegael. org/upload/file/Power_to_the_People.pdf
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Ó Cuív wants views on Bord Snip
The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuív, wants to hear the public’s views on the Bord Snip costcutting proposals. In an interview with Clare FM, the Minister said: “We have a report from McCarthy. I think we get some sense of what would happen the country if an economist from Dublin 4 was running the country.” “It is fair to say that Colm McCarthy has a particular view of the world. It is a very challenging view. We have to analyse everything he said and if we think he is wrong, we have to show an alternative way of doing things.” He added: “I think it is very, very different to what politicians would do. It is an interesting report. It gives us an agenda. I think that part of that agenda certainly would not be acceptable to a larger number of people. He said everything was up for debate although it was “clear” there would have to be some cuts in public spending. Along with many other macro-scale cuts, Bord Snip recommended closing two Government Departments, one being the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Neither Fine Gael nor Labour oppose that proposal.
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” - Thomas Jefferson, former US President Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on each foot